Councils pilot brownfield registers

73 English councils will pilot new brownfield registers designed to help housebuilders identify suitable sites quickly, the communities secretary announced yesterday.

The registers will provide up-to-date information on all brownfield sites available for housing locally and, should they prove successful, will be rolled out to the rest of the country as part of the Housing and Planning Bill.

The Government also hopes the registers will enable communities to draw attention to local sites for listing. This would help attract investment to places locals consider to be eyesores.

Each council agreeing to be part of the pilot will receive £10,000 funding to help the establishment of their brownfield registers.

Communities secretary Greg Clark said: ‘A key part of our ambition to build one million homes is to get work started on brownfield sites across the country – many of which are currently nothing more than blight on a community’s landscape.

‘These councils will be at the forefront of these efforts to list land and encourage builders to deliver new homes for aspiring homeowners.

‘But this is just the first step and I would urge councils to continue to offer up brownfield sites to deliver the homes their residents want and need.’